Home Office

Members: Correspondence

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to correspondence (a) from the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay of 27 April 2020 and (b) of (i) 18 May 2020 and (ii) 25 June 2020 regarding Mr Jannece.

Chris Philp: I apologise for the delay in responding to the Hon. Member’s correspondence. I can confirm that the response was sent out on the 28th July 2020.

Home Office: Photographs

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse has been of private photographers for her Department in each of the last 12 months.

James Brokenshire: Home Office communications directorate has not employed any private photographers in the last 12 months.

Undocumented Workers

Bell Ribeiro-Addy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s inspection into the Home Office’s Approach to Illegal Working, published 9 May 2019, if she will publish the Memorandum of Understandings referenced in paragraphs (a) 7.2, (b) 11.33 and (c) 11.5 and (d) 12.13.

Chris Philp: The Home Office do not routinely publish Memorandum of Understanding documents. We would only consider publication under exceptional circumstances and with the approval of the other parties to the agreement.

Department for Education

Free School Meals: Immigrants

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of permanently extending free school meals to children with no recourse to public funds.

Vicky Ford: Our extension of eligibility for free school meals to include children of Zambrano carers, children of families with a right to remain in the UK under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, children of a subset of failed asylum seekers supported under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act (1999) and children of families receiving support under Section 17 of the Children Act (1989) who are also subject to a no recourse to public funds restriction remains temporary during the COVID-19 outbreak.We are working with other government departments to support those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and a decision regarding any permanent extension of free school meal eligibility to individuals who do not have recourse to public funds is yet to be undertaken. We are monitoring the situation closely and may make further adjustments where necessary and appropriate to ensure people are not unduly affected by circumstances beyond their control.

Department of Health and Social Care

Kidney Diseases: Medical Treatments Abroad

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the ability of health insurance providers to reimburse the costs of dialysis treatment for people with kidney disease who need to travel in the EU in the event that there is no agreement on reciprocal provision of temporary healthcare cover for (a) tourists, (b) short-term business visitors and (c) service providers after the end of the transition period.

Edward Argar: The Withdrawal Agreement between the United Kingdom Government and the European Union ensures that there will be no changes to reciprocal healthcare access for state pensioners, workers, students, tourists and other visitors, the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme, or planned treatment during the Transition Period (until 31 December 2020).This includes the EHIC which can support UK residents with long-term health conditions travelling to the EU who may require needs arising treatment.The future of reciprocal healthcare arrangements between the UK and EU are subject to negotiations, which are currently ongoing. As part of its published approach to the negotiations with the EU, the UK has indicated that it is open to working with the EU to establish arrangements that provide healthcare cover for tourists, short-term business visitors and service providers. The UK’s published approach to negotiations, ‘The Future Relationship with the EU’ and the draft legal text of an agreement covering social security coordination (including reciprocal healthcare) can be found online at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/our-approach-to-the-future-relationship-with-the-euThe UK Government is advising people with pre-existing or long-term medical conditions to also check the Money and Pensions Advice Service which has information on their website for people about their options for purchasing travel insurance. Further information is available at the following link:www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/travel-insurance-for-over-65s-and-medical-conditions